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Aika Online = Pay to Win!

I'm really cheesed off at the moment. My posts on the official Aika forum have all been deleted (clearly players are not allowed to voice any concerns or criticisms about the game).

So I'm going to post them here (up you gpotato!).

Anyway, I've just found out about the Aika cash shop mounts.

Cash shop mounts.

The difference:

In-game mount - An increase in movement speed (when riding), and one slot for mount magic enchantment - basically like the magic effects you enhance in accessories, except that you use a mount-specific stone.

The effects enchanted on the mount are still active even if you are not currently riding it. Also, the effects on a mount are much higher than, lets say, on an accessory. Finally, quest mounts are permanent and do not require anything else to ride.

Cash Shop mount - different look from in-game mount in terms of color-scheme, and a glowing halo under its feet. The base speed is the same, since I have neither. The biggest difference is that you can slot THREE mount enhancement stones in your mount instead of one.

Also, a cash mount will instantly give you a bonus 800 hp and 200 physical defense. Remember, these effects do NOT require you to be riding the mount to be in effect, possessing it is enough.

Note that in TAika, a cash mount is TIMED, lasting for 30 days at the start. In order to continue to use your mount, you must buy mount licenses to extend the time you can use the mount.

I dunno about you, but I think this sucks! Not only is the cash shop going to sell overpowered mounts, but you'll be able to buy overpowered weapons and armor too. What fun! He with the biggest bank balance wins!

Here is another potentially great game ruined by a cash shop.

Note: If you're rich and willing to waste a lot of money on a game, then ignore everything I've said. You'll love it!

But for everybody else, if you're interested in playing Aika, do everything you can to get into the beta's, because once the cash shop opens, you can kiss fair and balanced gameplay goodbye. Make the most of it while you can!

To be honest, if 800 HP and two additional enhancement slots are all you have to worry about in Aika i might just be moving to it once it goes OB and such. Because truthfully, you have to keep paying to keep that going. As opposed to be able to do it one time and one time only in the game and having it for life. Essentially it's actually a downside for anyone who uses the CS. If they want to keep their minor buffs they have to keep paying for it. That's far better than being forced to pay for major buffs to be competitive as it's going to stand right now in Allods.

Yea, really dude, it's not that big a deal. F2P games have basically been like this for quite some time, it's about which cash shop is fair to players who are poor...er players who do not want to pay, and those who do, it's about which one has the least amount of bias.

Yeah. If Aika is only going that far with their CS then I think you're going to see that game really shine. Even if they sell armor in the CS. Allods is doing that to. So, don't fret. It could be just like Allods in that regard. You can buy chests from the CS in Allods that give random armor and such. You can't guarantee what you get so it's basically just a way for people without common sense to waste money.

I wonder how can some games make nice money from CS and not sell any kind of item that debalances pvp at least a little. Look at Dekaron it's a PK/PvP heavy game and they don't sell anything that changes the balance in the cash shop, they did once for about 2-3 weeks there was some ring which gave insane dmg and crit chance but the community went crazy and they removed it. So if they can make enough money without de balancing CS then so can other companies too, but they just decide it's easier and faster to make their games pay to 2 win.

That's more the fault of the community than the game, to be honest. P2W works because we, the players, continue to let it work. There are still far too many of use that would rather spend a few bucks than actually learning how to win on our own. As long as we keep paying for it, the companies will keep dishing it out. Sadly, there are too few of us trying to fight those types of Cash Shops for it to ever be changed.